Friday, March 20, 2009

Mikey Likes It


Actually, Lyla does, not Mikey. We tried cereal today for the first time. Not sure how it happened that I just had a newborn and am now feeding my 4 1/2 month old rice cereal. She woke up more often at night this last week so I thought I would try this and see what happens.... Stay Tuned.
I do love the "Woh. What the heck is that?" look they get when you first put it in their mouth. Good times!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Healing

This past weekend, Seth accompanied his parents to a church in California where literally thousands of people have been healed from different ailments. They have a particular hatred for cancer and for some reason, many have been healed from the wicked disease. So Seth and his parents went to Redding, California with hopes to see what the Lord wanted to do. They received quite a bit of ministry. The crazy, instantaneous healing didn't happen but it doesn't really change our trust in Him. Again, that choice is there: to either give up and say "Whatever" or to keep pressing on, putting our hope in the Lord. As hard as it is some days, I choose to love the One who first loved me. Not even like I really have a choice...once you encounter His love, His perfect love...yeah, the term "undone" comes to mind.

Seth put together a video of their trip to Bethel Church. Watch it here if you would like.

By the way, thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. I mean that from the very bottom of my heart.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

4 Months...

...and 1 week.



Her head smells like honey. No lie.

Yes, she really is that sweet.


The girl loves her some fingers. She takes this job very seriously.


Blooper Time.



Give it a month or 2, little One. You're almost there.

Monday, March 09, 2009

Monday Musings

It's 5am. Baby is awake, getting her diaper changed.

"Ahchoo"
"pthhthpth"
"Wahhh"

And Scene.

Question: Did Baby cry because she was frightened of the 1-2 combination of sneeze and gas? Or did the sheer force of both actually cause pain?

Saturday, March 07, 2009

Week in Pictures

Last Saturday: 6 inches of snow. The boys were pretty happy about it. I didn't experience that same emotion. How would I describe it? Ummm, the very opposite of happy.


Monday: It was time to break out the baby walker. The verdict? Baby #3 loves it just as much as Baby #1 and Baby #2 did.

Thursday morning: Apparently this is what happens when you leave baby in her walker while cleaning the house. It has a very soothing effect. Seriously, how sweet can this girl get??

Thursday evening: To celebrate my brother-in-law's birthday, I went all kinds of gourmet. Grilled salmon on a bed of roasted asparagus topped with sweet corn, tomato, avocado relish; lemony rice pilaf; side salad. And yes, he was special that day.

Adam requested a Boston Creme Pie for his birthday cake. It didn't turn out as pretty as I wanted it to but it was quite tasty.

Saturday: I have a girl. With hair. I get to put pretty things in her hair. That makes me so happy!
She slays me.


Thursday, March 05, 2009

Welcome Fellow Bloggers

This is an introduction to family who have jumped on the blogging train. My dashing brother-in-law, Adam, and his lovely wife, Leya, each have their very own sites to share their very own thoughts. Feel free to check out their blogs...
Oh and I guess I should also introduce my husband's new website for his business, Grassland Properties. He blogs on it so that totally counts.

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

The Loss of Normal

It was a Wednesday or Thursday afternoon. I was in the middle of a pregnancy-induced afternoon nap when I woke up to movement near the bedroom door. It was Seth. He was home early but one look at his face and I knew exactly why. He has a habit of running his hands back and forth over his shaved head when he is upset. He said, "It's everywhere. Her lungs, her liver, her spine. Everywhere." It took me a few minutes to process his words. I knew what they meant but they were so terrible, they could not possibly be true. I remember shaking my head over and over again. Partly to rid myself of the shock, partly to wake myself out of the horrible nightmare I had just found myself in. Visions of walking into my grandma's room when I was only 10 years old and seeing what could only be described as a skeletal wisp of the grandmother I once knew showing up like someone pressing Rewind on my memories' DVD player. She lost the battle to an evil, wicked enemy. And now that same enemy was attacking my mother-in-law, my mom, my friend. Grief rose within me, making it impossible to swallow, impossible to speak.
It is difficult to type this out because we are still walking down this road. A dark, rocky, blind road. We are watching our parents suffer the unimaginable. We have watched our mother's physical body diminish and weaken. We have watched our father lovingly take care of his beloved wife, beside himself with grief, yet forever pressing on. Our hope has been crushed over and over as each test result has come back negative.
I have found myself just longing for normalcy. A normalcy that even escaping to a small, remote island could not bring. Every minute of every day since that afternoon, there is a nagging sadness underneath our life's existence. Feeling joy's light from my infant daughter's smiles or from my boys' giggles is darkened a shade or two with grief. We have lost our "normal". Phone calls from our parent's house makes my heart skip a half a beat. We don't speak of the future very often. We just don't know what it will hold. It's a place we just can't go.
Since I'm in the middle of all of this and have no idea how it's going to end, I am going to say this: I know it's circumstances like these that shape the rest of our days on this earth. I have a choice. I can either stay angry and become bitter towards the Lord for allowing us to walk through such a horrific thing. Or I can seriously just run to Him and trust Him even if I don't understand what's going on. I think I choose the latter because the first choice seems so lonely and unfulfilled.
Who is this coming from the wilderness, leaning on her Beloved? (Song of Solomon 8:5) I am not out of this desert yet. I don't know when it will end or how it will end but I know this, I want to be leaning on Him. Maybe that's my new "normal".